In the past fifteen years, tobacco farmers have continued to turn to bulk tobacco curing and drying. Prior to the acceptance of bulk tobacco curing, the conventional practice was curing and drying in a so called "stick barn". In a "stick barn" environment, a small amount of tobacco leaf material was tied in spaced apart bundles along a stick with each bundle including approximately two to three leaves. In a hanging environment within a stick barn, there were substantial air spaces between the leaf material for air to pass upwardly through the tobacco leaf material to effectuate curing and drying. Preparing tobacco for curing and drying in this manner was a very time consuming and laborious process.
With the advent of bulk curing and drying, as first developed and disclosed by F. J. Hassler in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,105,713 and 3,110,326, tobacco leaf material was packed in relatively large bulk forms and disposed within a curing and drying structure. Because the tobacco was closely packed, it required that a fan system be employed to continuously force air through the bulk tobacco leaf material. This form of housing the tobacco for curing and drying substantially reduced the labor and time required in preparing the tobacco crop for curing and drying. As a result, bulk tobacco curing and drying has now been widely accepted and is especially used throughout the flue cured tobacco region of the United States.
In a bulk curing operation, it is conventional practice to utilize a sectional bulk tobacco rack. These racks are usually manufactured from metal and typically include a two sectional design, with the sections being separable. One section generally includes a U-shaped rack section with a plurality of tines extending therefrom. A second section includes an elongated bar that is adapted to attach across the tine section and to be latched thereto so as to confine the tobacco leaf material between the two sections. Once the dual sectional rack has been filled and the rack has been latched, the same can be disposed within a bulk tobacco curing and drying structure for curing and drying.
Because of the size and nature of these types of bulk tobacco racks, it is often difficult and time consuming to load them. In a typical loading operation, a form is provided and the form is adapted to receive the elongated bar section that is disposed about the bottom of the form. After the bar section has been so disposed, tobacco leaf material is piled across the bar section to a selected height with the form being so designed so as to retain the tobacco about side areas extending upwardly generally adjacent the end of the elongated bar section. Once a sufficient quantity of tobacco has been so disposed, then the tine section is placed over the quantity of tobacco, with the remote ends of the tines facing the tobacco. The tine section is then pushed downwardly through the tobacco leaf material towards the bottom disposed elongated bar section. The object is to push the tine section down into engagement with the elongated bar section such that latches disposed one each side of the tine section will appropriately engage the bar section to latch therewith and form a coupled relationship.
In the above process, it has always been very difficult to align the tine section with the elongated bar section so as to easily and precisely latch the two sections together. In addition, it requires substantial force and pressure to push the tine section and the individual tines through the tobacco leaf material that is to form the rack of tobacco material.
To assist in loading and unloading bulk tobacco racks of this general type, there has been some effort in designing a tobacco racking device. In this regard, one is referred to U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,985 which relates to such a device. The racking device disclosed in this patent has been very successful and is widely used by tobacco farmers throughout the flue cured tobacco region. With respect to this type of racking device, it is particularly noted that it is designed to accommodate a particular type of bulk tobacco rack. It is also especially designed to be used in unloading the rack after curing and drying. The type of rack that the racking device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,985 was designed for is the type of single tier rack that has been manufactured and sold by Harrington Manufacturing Company of Lewiston, N.C.
Besides the Harrington rack, there is a second general type of single tier bulk tobacco rack that is somewhat different in construction and which has been manufactured and sold throughout the flue cured tobacco region by Powell Manufacturing Company located in Bennettsville, S.C. Because of the particular design of this bulk tobacco rack, the racking table and structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,985 was not particularly suited for nor compatible with the Powell type of rack. There, however, still remains a great need for a racking table and device that is particularly suited to work in conjunction with the Powell type rack.